Court Clears Way For Musharraf to Remain in Office

Final Legal Challenge Thrown Out

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Nov. 22 -- President Pervez Musharraf's script for a tightly controlled political transition moved ahead on cue Thursday, as his handpicked Supreme Court dismissed the final legal challenge to his election to another five-year term and officials said he would resign as army chief within days.

Musharraf's aides and supporters said they hoped that once he is sworn in as a civilian president, probably by this weekend, the barrage of domestic and foreign criticism against his imposition of emergency rule three weeks ago will recede and the country's attention will turn to parliamentary and provincial legislative elections scheduled for Jan. 8.

"All the issues making the politicians agitate will be resolved," said Tariq Azim Khan, the deputy information minister. "General Musharraf will take off his uniform and become Mr. President. The emergency definitely will be short-lived. The people should begin preparing for elections, and let the best man win."

Yet even as the military-led government continued to free thousands of civilian protesters and opposition leaders detained in recent weeks, it intensified a crackdown on press freedoms and issued a decree that declared the permanent legal validity of Musharraf's emergency measures.

The decree, an amendment to the now-suspended constitution, appeared aimed at ensuring that no future court could find his actions illegal. Musharraf has refused to say whether he will lift emergency rule, which suspended most civil liberties, in time for the planned elections.

"This amendment has been made only to protect an unlawful regime that is on its way out," asserted Wajihuddin Ahmed, a former Supreme Court justice who was deposed in 1999 when he refused to endorse Musharraf's military coup against the last civilian government. He said the move was a sign that even with the emergency powers, Musharraf is feeling pressure.

On Thursday, the 53-nation Commonwealth suspended Pakistan for failing to end the emergency, the Associated Press reported. The Commonwealth, largely made up of Britain and its former colonies, had set a Thursday deadline for Musharraf to lift emergency rule and step down as head of the army.

In 1999, Pakistan was kicked out of the organization after Musharraf's coup. The country was reinstated five years later.

Musharraf has publicly vowed to step down as army chief "the moment" the high court validates his Oct. 6 election by the outgoing parliament and he is formally notified by the national election commission.

The court, composed of 10 judges who agreed to serve under emergency rule and the suspended constitution, dismissed five legal challenges to Musharraf's election early this week, and then dismissed a sixth, more minor challenge Thursday. Previous high court members who refused to sign a new oath were suspended, and the senior lawyers who brought the major petitions against Musharraf's right to serve as president are behind bars.

But with national elections likely to take place in less than seven weeks, it remains unclear whether Pakistan's divided opposition parties -- torn between playing into Musharraf's political scheme or standing on lonely principle -- will participate or boycott the polls.

The most prominent opposition leader, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, said she had not yet decided. Bhutto, who once sought a power-sharing deal with Musharraf, has become increasingly critical of him since returning from exile in October and being placed under house arrest twice. However, she has also reportedly come under pressure from the United States to tone down her rhetoric and reengage in the political process.

Another respected opposition leader, former cricket star Imran Khan, was released from jail Wednesday to a tumultuous public welcome and promptly urged all parties to boycott the elections, which he called "the biggest fraud in the history of Pakistan."

A third key player, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, remains exiled in Saudi Arabia. Sharif said Wednesday that he hoped to return and register his candidacy, but Musharraf traveled there this week and reportedly asked the Saudis not to allow Sharif to leave.

The planned elections, even if flawed, could be sufficient to earn Musharraf a reprieve from mounting international criticism of his rule. Musharraf is a U.S. ally in the fight against terrorism, and the Bush administration, while urging him to lift emergency rule, has continued to support him and to suggest that it would be satisfied if he fulfills his pledge to step down as army chief and hold elections.

On Tuesday, President Bush said that Musharraf had not yet "crossed the line" and that he believed the Pakistani leader was a believer in democracy and "a man of his word." On Thursday, protesters here carried posters saying "Where is the line, Mr. Bush?" and showing cartoons of Musharraf and Mohammed Zia ul-Haq, a former Pakistani dictator, as "Bush's favorite democrats."

Musharraf's influential allies in Pakistan, who strongly opposed his imposition of emergency rule, said that if Musharraf meets certain benchmarks such as removing his uniform, freeing all detained protesters and civilian activists, restoring press freedoms and conducting orderly elections, the country's political crisis could be settled peacefully.

"Emergency is indefensible, but we need a transition, and the political process must go on, warts and all," said Mushahid Hussain, a prominent senator in Musharraf's party. "If General Musharraf takes off his uniform in a peaceful manner, it will be the first time in the history of Pakistan. The only other option is a military coup, and nobody wants that."